A New Year’s Resolution That (actually) Lasts?

Why New Year’s Resolutions Normally Don’t Work and How to Make Change Last

(The following blog is a summary version of an article published by Energy of Mind Therapy on Elephant Journal)

What is it that makes us sabotage our own efforts for change? Why do we stop doing what we know makes us feel good and keep doing what we know makes us feel like crap? We may for a time adopt more balanced lifestyles. These may yield brief runs of success wherein we experience the desired benefits of peaceful minds and healthy, vital bodies…BUT…

Before we know it, we are one brownie sundae too far gone, backsliding into the same-old patterns of suffering.

What is up with that?

For one, there is a ton of momentum pushing us to have a particular emotional experience of life. Much of our suffering is experienced through our emotions, which are passively and unconsciously recorded as implicit memories in our brain 24/7. We also inherited patterns of emotionality from our ancestors, retracing back for seven generations. So, our hard-drive is overloaded with codes that seem to be beyond our conscious control.

This incredible force expresses behaviorally as habits, or neural ruts in the brain. We can liken our neural grooves to trickles of water in the sand. The water creates a tiny rivulet at first, but as more water is poured down the same track the rivulet grows wider. It then has the capacity to not only hold more water, but also has more area to attract more water. Eventually, its growth becomes a powerful river and it has developed a life of its own. We can think of this river as our deepest tendencies and assumptions, making it nearly impossible to head upstream.

So how do we overcome this momentum? Logic can only take us so far. In fact, it is physiologically impossible to alleviate our experience of emotional suffering by “figuring it out” or merely talking about it. Instead, we must ACT differently. We need not understand “why,” but rather consciously ritualize our daily disciplines to cultivate new and improved neural grooves.

Unfortunately, there is no magic pill to rid us of the effort needed to over-ride our unconscious momentum. It might not be easy, but it is necessary that we summon our greatest efforts precisely when we feel the pull of our compulsions calling us back to a life we don’t actually want. Logic is necessary to know that if we do what we did, we will get what we got. And, if we don’t like what we’ve got so far we must COMMIT and FOLLOW THROUGH on habits and patterns that are different.

With continual effort, we can establish new grooves that will more easily flow in the direction of our choosing. We must match the frequency, intensity and duration of our new patterns to override the old. Thankfully, when we consciously choose to not only do something new, but also to NOT do something old and familiar, we generate a great amount of intensity that can make up for a lot of time spent doing the same-old, unconscious thing… then, according to the same principle of momentum it will actually become easier to make life-affirming choices that fulfill our Awesome Purpose.

And there is more… effort without the right tools can be a waste of time….Traditional yoga (as opposed to the new age fad), meditation, and ayurvedic medicine are proven (for millennia) to directly access and transform the limbic grooves that drive our emotional experience of life. When practiced in their authentic forms, these sciences provide actual, real and lasting changes to our body, mind, emotions and spirit.

With the coming of the new year, why not make a resolution that will actually last? With this aim we are offering a free intake (normal value – 100 USD) for every person that signs up during the month of January for 5 or more sessions (available online, with anonymous options). So, what better time to commit to a radiant lifestyle, and to take advantage of tried and true methods and plans that actually work?… After all, we can do more than just talk about it! Inquire now to sign up!